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Video Gallery

Beginner Clinic

Flashlight Position Side View

Flashlight Position Side View

MTA Red Ball Tournament

McNamara Tennis Academy red ball tournament. All of these kids have been playing for just a few months with me. I decided to host my own tournament so they could learn how the scoring and rules work.

Rebecca 10 & Under Tennis Forehands

Rebecca demonstrating cross court forehands on a 8 & under tennis court.

Advanced Clinic

Full Motion Side View

Full Motion Side View

Windshield Wiper Tennis

The advanced version of how the wrist moves. Notice how much wrist the pros use when they hit the ball. A couple key things to note: -Generally the wrist will start before you make contact with the ball. -Move the wrist over the top of the ball (make a roof over the ball) -Use as much wrist as you possibly can (we recommend the wrist move about 270 degrees or about a 3/4ths turn.

Advanced Clinic

Coaching the proper technique of the take back and beginning stage of the forehand.

Pro Tennis

On the run movemnet

Here is a video on the steps to perfect movement.

  1. Start in ready position on your toes
  2. Turn your hips 90 degrees and immediately take of running to the ball. Although Roger doesn't do it here, I believe the racket should get back as soon as possible. Try and get your racket back with the turn of your hips.
  3. Plant your back foot.
  4. Step in on the front foot.
  5. Swing through the shot.
  6. Get back to ready position.
  7. Make your first step a crossover step.
  8. Side step back to the middle.

*A key step to note is that when you are moving back to the middle you should be perfectly strait. Make sure your hips and your feet stay facing forward.

Textbook Form

Hi everyone, I have been showing a lot of you this video lately. If there is one guy in tennis my students want to hit like, it would be this guy. Thhis is what smooth looks like in your stroke.


Let's begin with his turn.

  • Notice instantly how David turns his body a full 90 degrees to the ball. (Hitting in a closed stance position).
  • As he turns his hip his racket also comes all the way back. Take note how the blade of the racket is the furthest part of his body back towards the camera.
  • After that notice the C motion he makes in the back before getting to his flashlight position.
  • From there he accelerates his hand all the way forward with complete follow through to his shoulder.
  • Take note of how closely he watches the ball as well.

Break down of serving technique

  • Let's start at 0 seconds. Notice that both hands are close to each other around the waist area.
  • From 0-10 seconds. 3 things start and stop all at once. Both hands and the front leg.
  • At 10 seconds his right elbow and his right hand are above his shoulder with his left hand still all the way up. Notice his head is up as well looking at the ball.
  • From 10-14 seconds the racket head falls down and the left hand also begins to drop.
  • At 14 seconds the racket is all the way down with the elbow high.
  • From 14-15 seconds the hand swings strait up and the shoulders begin to rotate.
  • At 15 seconds his arm is locked vertically as high as it can possibly go. Also the racket head is on top of the ball, not under it.
  • From 15-16 seconds the wrist snaps down on the ball
  • From 16-20 seconds the hands comes all the way down and to the left side of his body.

Slice Backhand

Ok, lets keep this simple for my students.

  1. Both hands come back together (notice the left on the throat of the racquet).
  2. He steps into the ball on the front foot and begins his motion.
  3. Notice as he swings that his hand stays pretty level. He doesn't lift it or let it drop dramatically)
  4. He hits the outside part of the ball (the ball of the racket is in front of the handle at his contact point)

Hitting around the ball

In this video notice how Fernando Verdasco is always hitting out and around the ball. When getting to the outside part of the ball it is important to first note the path of the hand. Try and avoid swinging near your stomach. Instead swing out to the side. As you can see, there is a gap between his hand and stomach area at contact point. This allows him to also use his wrist to get more spin on the ball.

Basics of Hitting Topsin

Hey everyone here is just a quick video for my beginners on the basics of topspin. Remember at all times we are going to use topspin on our forehand and our backhand. Topspin is where the ball will spin over the top of itself so that if it goes up, the spin will pull it back down. Here are the 4 things you must have in order to generate topspin.

  1. Closed Racquet Face
  2. Hit the bottom of the ball
  3. Swing from low to high
  4. Brush (not slap) your wrist right before making contact with that ball

Wrist

Probably the most useful part of our tennis game is our wrist. Every single ball we hit we will use our wrist for control. But how much wrist should we be using? Well that entirely depends upon the kind of ball. But when the ball is right in our strike zone we are looking for about a 3/4 turn of the wrist.

First, notice how the wrist begins to move before contact with the ball. It is very important that when we contact the ball, the blade should already be out in front of the handle.

Next, as Andy Murray flicks his wrist, his wrist will come over the top of the ball. Thus giving us complete topsin. We want our palm to go over the ball so that we are not opening the racquet face.

Last, he makes about a 3/4 turn of the wrist and follow through with this hand on top of his shoulder.

Remember, wrist will always give you complete control of your shots. You'll never want to use your arm or hand for the control, only wrist.

Serve

Ok, lets keep this very basic for my beginners. First, watch how he gets into trophy position. Next, he will throw his HAND up and after the ball until he is at the highest point. Next, the most important thing we are working on is being up on top of the ball and snapping the WRIST down at the highest point. Last he follows through all the way until his hand is down by his waist.

One Handed Backhand Technique

I want to talk about the one handed backhand today. A very difficult shot compared to the 2-handers. Take some notes on Stan Wawrinkas backhand.

First off, the first thing you see is Stan switch grips. Notice how he puts his index knuckle up on top of the racquet.

Second, notice a very slow and smooth take back which lead to a good drop of the racquet head below the ball.

Next, and starting the most important part of the swing he gets into his flashlight position. From here the arm will stay STRAIT the entire length of the swing. Just before contact point he begins to flick his wrist over the top of the ball to generate topspin. Also take note that he contacts the ball out in front of his body.

Last, he follows through with the hand above the shoulder and lets his wrist flick to finish the stroke.

The 4 steps to hitting the ball like the pros

4 steps to hitting the ball like the pros. All of these have to do with your CONTACT POINT.

  1. The most important thing you can ever do in tennis is to contact the ball out in front. Notice how Roger Federer is making contact with the ball out in front of his shoes. You always want to throw your hand (not arm) forward and then all the way up. This only gives power. Very important that you never use your hand to try and guide the ball. When we want to guide or control the ball more that is done with our wrist. Which takes us to the next step.
  2. Blade out in front of the handle. When Roger is contacting the ball you will see that the blade of the racquet is out in front of the handle. This is generated by our wrist and gives us spin. It is very important that you start using your wrist right before you make contact. Flick the blade of the racquet 270 degrees (3/4th turn). This is where we will control (feel) the ball.
  3. Hit the ball at the top of the racquet. The sweet spot of the racquet actually isn't in the dead center. You want to contact the ball 1 ball length(about 2 inches) above the dead center. When we contact a little bit closer to the blade we are getting faster acceleration for spin and power.
  4. Racquet face closed. Always notice how his racquet face is pointed towards the groud. This allows for topspin on the ball. Topspin allows us to hit the ball with more authority.

McNamara Tennis Instruction Videos

Volley Lesson

Full Motion Side View

A complete break down of the full motion forehand swing from the side.

How to hit a flat serve in tennis

Here is the complete evolution of hitting a flat serve in tennis.

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